Emerging Adulthood and Prospective Depression: A Simultaneous Test of Cumulative Risk Theories

• NCJ Number: 254204
• Author(s): Joseph R. Cohen; Kari N. Thomsen; Anna Racioppi; Sergi Ballespi; Tamara Sheinbaum; Thomas R. Kwani; Neus Barrantes-Vidal
• Date Published: 2019
• Length: 12 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2018-R2-CX-0022
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description
• Award: A Novel, Trauma-Informed Screening Approach for Teen Dating Violence Perpetration in Racially Diverse Adolescents: A Multi-Site Study

Annotation

This study examined how three risk factors (prior depression, abuse, and neglect) synergistically predicted prospective depressive symptoms in a sample of 214 emerging adults (Mage-21.4 years; SDage-2.4; 78 percent females).

Abstract

Past research indicates that a history of depression and exposure to abuse and neglect represent some of the most robust predictors of depression in emerging adults; however, studies rarely test the additive or interactive risk associated with these distinct risk factors. In the current study, subtypes of maltreatment and lifetime history of depression were assessed through semi-structured interviews, and depressive symptoms were assessed annually for 3 years via self-report measures. The results indicated that for both males and females, a lifetime history of depression, abuse, and neglect-exposure uniquely conferred risk for elevated depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the interaction between neglect and prior depression forecasted increasing depressive symptoms, and a history of abuse also predicted increasing depressive symptoms, but only in females. These findings are contextualized within extant developmental psychopathology theories, and translational implications for trauma-informed depression prevention efforts are discussed. (publisher abstract modified)